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Sault Ste. Marie: more gay than you think?

If Stratford, Ont., is "the gayest small town," in Canada, just how gay is Sault Ste. Marie?

It could be gayer, but it's probably more gay than you think, say members of the community who are working toward acceptance.

"I would still call it uptight. There are people there that are friendly, definitely, but there are still problems with employment and things like that," said Harry Stewart, organizer of a conference next month in Sault Ste. Marie that will tackle religion and gay family values.

Outlooks magazine dubbed Stratford the nation's "gayest small town" after editor Randall Shirley visited the southwestern Ontario city, population 30,000, and discovered not only a thriving gay community, but a surprising level of openness.

You won't find that in the Sault. That is, unless you dig beneath the surface, said Sean Meades.

People who live in the Sault seem to believe their hometown is "much more conservative than it is," said Meades, 23, one of the drivers behind the Safe Places Initiative, and who has worked

extensively to combat homophobia in the Sault.

"What I run into mostly in Sault Ste. Marie is not conservative attitudes, it's people complaining about Sault Ste. Marie, people complaining that it's a conservative town, that there's no diversity, that it's this and that, and it's kind of like a self-fulfilling prophesy," said Meades.

Because of that, people stay closeted, feeling they can't be openly gay, or they can't walk down the street holding their partner's hand, he said. in turn, it has the effect of making the city appear "a lot less progressive than it really is."

Stewart, 50, said it is definitely easier now for young people to find the support they need, even in the north.

He and his partner chris, both members of Zion united church in Thessalon, were the first married gay couple in the algoma district.

Stewart, 50, said he has found Thessalon to be "embracing," with a surprising number of gay residents.

But he said there are still problems that affect gay people in the city.

"There are still people who aren't out at their place of employment," and stories always circulate of people losing their jobs when they do reveal themselves, or having trouble finding a job in the first place, said Stewart.

Stewart said he was surprised at the phone calls he started to receive when he began organizing the focusing on the gay family conference, aimed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, two-spirit and queer/questioning groups.

"it's amazing how many people we've met who have been married, have children and have come out later on in life," said Stewart. "i mean a significant amount of numbers, just because they were born and bred in the Sault and felt uncomfortable or pressured to live a straight life," said Stewart.

He said religion is a big factor, particularly for people who grew up following evangelical teachings or as members of catholic congregations. He said a big push behind the conference is to educate congregations about their gay members.

He said he likes to use his own united church as an example.

"They say 'We accept everybody,' but what they don't realize is that people that walk through the door that are gay walk through the door with a lot of extra baggage that most people don't," said Stewart.

Meades came out when he was 15 and a student at Sir James dunn collegiate and vocational school. He said he had it relatively easy. He said not everyone does.

coming out is usually the culmination of years of fear of being "harassed, beat up, alienated by your family," said Meades.

"So when you actually do reach that point, and you find out most people don't care one way or the other, it's a massive shock," said Meades.

That's not to say the Sault lacks a dark side when it comes to homophobia. When Meades goes out in public, he regularly encounters passersby who shout "faggot," from the other side of the street.

"i would say once every two months would probably be the average, maybe once every three months," said Meades.

it wasn't like that when he lived in Halifax, but Meades said he's not sure he can draw the conclusion that the Sault is more homophobic than other cities.

"Then again, i look at my friends who are women, and they get people yelling stuff on the street at them every other day," said Meades.

That makes Meades wonder. "am i being harassed more because i'm gay, or is harassment just kind of more accepted in Sault Ste. Marie?"

"of course i don't want to legitimize sexist or homophobic harassment in any way," said Meades.

The Safe Places initiative sprang up about a year ago, asking businesses and community agencies committed to standing up against racism, homophobia, sexism and other forms of discrimination to self-identify by putting up stickers that mark their premises as a "hate-free space."

Those who signed up took it seriously, said rob Majury, community and outreach liaison with the Sault Ste. Marie arts council, one of the organizations behind the project.

"People who were on board with the program really cared about the program and even the smallest remark was not tolerated," said Majury.

Meades was reached in Sioux lookout, a small community he said he was pleased to discover had two openly queer councillors.

"you compare that to Sault Ste. Marie, which to my knowledge has never had a gay councillor," said Meades.

But Meades said the city shouldn't shoulder the blame for the lack of a pride parade or a gay district.

"The basic fact is it's never been brought up," said Meades.

Which probably has more to do with the fact the Sault wasn't necessarily connected to movements in cities like Toronto and Montreal, where the pride movement grew in response to active repression, like bath house riots and raids on gay clubs in those cities, said Meades.

"i don't think that having a pride festival or a gay district or a gay bar, i don't think those things are necessary," said Meades.

What do exist are gay-straight dance nights at local bars, and an annual film, Queer Voices of the north film festival, that has for five years coincided with the Shadows of the Mind film festival..

That spaces exist that are recognized as mixed gay and straight "shows a lot of progress," in the Sault, said Meades.

"although, i think people in Sault Ste. Marie don't know the history of our community. They don't know there are people in our town who have been out of the closet for 40 years, they're in their 80s now, or they came out of the closet in the 1950s because our city is based on personal one-on-one relationships people base their assumptions on the relationships people have with individuals and not with kind of these major national discourses about what it means to be gay, or what gay people are like."